Brighton - London Road
(Up to: The Art Of The Environment )
I feel ashamed. Having lived in the same area of Brighton for the past 7 years or so, it has been only recently (over the past year perhaps) that I've discovered the true joy of nearby London Road and the attached Open Market.
What joy? Many facets, of course. It has variety, from the usual fruit and veg and cafes, to bookshops, second hand video/DVDs, a couple of local butchers, audio shops, 99p shops, card shops, organic food, charity shops, chinese medecines and mushrooms-less-of-the-Tesco-variety. Plus, of course, the fantastic Duke of York's at the Preston Park end. It's actually pretty easy to just maunder from one end to the other and back again over the course of a long afternoon, taking in the hectic crowds, purchasing the odd oddity here and there for a few bob.
Secondly, there's a sense of friendliness buried in the people you get to meet that just isn't present when you go up to the commercial, chain-led, Churchill Square bright-lights extravaganza. In London Road, you can feel like you're a customer, rather than merely another piece of chaff being fed through the conveyor belt of consumerism. The animated faces and jocular conversation of the Open Market makes supermarkets feel like a morgue.
Thirdly, the value is, at most times, great. Although I've yet to do a strict price comparison between my favourite fruit and veg stall, I'm pretty pleased about being to able to blag a huge plastic bag of fairly decent goodies for a few quid. And when you buy bacon or sausages from the butcher, you can generally be sure that it's not as full of strange elements a la the water-pumped slivers in Sainsbury's.
Yes, London Road may feel "dirtier" than other places in the middle of town, but the experience is so much better. For me, for you, for everyone.
So, pleased I was when local Green Party councillor Keith Taylor pointed out that there's a regeneration effort underway. Hopefully, I can update this section when I know more.
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